Medications are often delivered to patients in the form of inhaled aerosols—gaseous suspensions of very fine liquid or solid particles in which medications are entrained. So-called pulmonary delivery of medication is in many instances a very efficient manner of delivering biological and chemical substances to the patient's bloodstream. Pulmonary delivery is especially efficient when the medication is delivered with a digitally controlled device such as a “metered dose inhaler” (“MDI”) or other type of inhaler that incorporates ejector heads that are suitable for creating aerosols having very small droplet size. Such inhalers are often used to deliver asthma medications directly into a patient's lungs where the medications have a rapid anti-inflammatory effect. MDIs may also be used for systemic delivery of medication where the aerosolized droplets of medication are delivered deep into the lung tissue where the medication is rapidly absorbed into the patient's blood stream.
The most effective pulmonary drug delivery is accomplished when the medication is delivered in very small, aerosolized droplet directly to the alveoli—the tiny air sacs in the innermost lung tissue known as the alveolar epithelium—because the medication is transferred into the patient's bloodstream very rapidly. Delivery of medication to the alveoli is most efficiently accomplished when the medication is delivered in very small drops entrained in an aerosol. Thermal-type drop generators may be used to generate aerosolized medications having small drop sizes. However, there is an ongoing need for a droplet generator that can reliably produce very small-volume droplets with a generally uniform size distribution for entrainment in aerosols.